1791 



undoubted lord of the forest. Beauty, united with strength, characterises all 

 its parts. The leaves, elegant in their outline, are strongly ribbed, and firmly 

 attached to the spray, which, although thin and excursive, is yet bold and de- 

 termined in its angles ; whilst the abrupt and tortuous irregularity of its mas- 

 sive branches admirably contrasts with the general richness and density of its 

 clustered foliage. Even as a sapling, in its slender gracefulness it exhibits 

 sufficient firmness and indications of vigour to predicate the future monarch 

 of the wood ; a state, indeed, which it is slow to assume, but which it retains 

 per scecula longa ; and when at length it is brought to acknowledge the in- 

 fluence of time, and becomes* bald with dry antiquity,' no other production 



1630 



of the forest can be admitted as 



its rival in majestic and venerable 



decay. The general form of the 



oak is expansive, luxuriant, and 



spreading. Its character, both 



with respect to its whole and 



to its larger masses of foliage, is 



best expressed by the pencil, in 



bold and roundish lines, whether 



as single trees, as groups (fig. 



1630.), or as forming the line of 



a distant forest (figs. 1629. and _. 



1631.) ; although, when growing 



more closely together, they assume a loftier and less spreading appearance 



than the more solitary tree, such as Mason has so beautifully described in 



his Camctacus : 



' Behold yon oak, 



How stern he frowns, and with his broad brawn arms 

 Chills the pale plain beneath him ! ' " 



1631 



The sketches figs. 1632. and 1633., which are also drawn by Mr. Strutt, 

 will more distinctly exemplify his position ; exhibiting, in distinct distances, 

 the same general appearance in the contour of the trees. Of these sketches, 



6 A 



